New York Yankees

Source: FanGraphs The Yankees stomped the Rays by the score of 9-4 on Friday night — the score makes it seem a lot closer than it felt — but more importantly, they lost Curtis Granderson for an extended period of time after a pitch broke his left pinky in the fifth inning. It’s a win in the standings and a loss in the big picture. Let’s recap… Three-Run Second: It started with (another) blown call at first base. David Adams was incorrectly ruled safe on an infield single, putting two men on-base for Lyle Overbay. He took a big hack at a 3-0 fastball and doubled in the first two runs of the game, then Jayson Nix singled him in for a three-zip lead. The call at first would have only been the second out of the inning, but it changed everything. The Yankees took advantage of the gift call. Blown Open: It’s been a while since the Bombers put a crocked number on the board, so it was nice to see them so some serious damage in the middle innings. Brett Gardner sabotaged a first pitch fastball for a two-run homer in the fourth, which is exactly what he’s done for three of his four homers this year. Nix (bases loaded walk), Chris Stewart (single), and Robinson Cano (bases loaded hit-by-pitch) each drove in a run in the fifth to make it eight-zip. Job Security: Ivan Nova is going to have to get comfortable in the bullpen. David Phelps retired the first 13 men he faced on Friday and finished the night with four runs allowed in a career-high 7.2 innings, a line that looks a lot worse than he actually pitched. He threw 63 of 98 pitches for strikes and was very efficient, never once throwing more than 15 pitches in an inning. Phelps’ night came to an unfortunate end when a line drive hit him in the right forearm — there’s a chance he was going to be removed at time anyway — but x-rays came back negative and it’s just a bruise. Once again, the right-hander was rock solid. Nova ain’t taking this rotation spot back anytime soon. Leftovers: The bottom four spots in the lineup went a combined 8-for-18 (.444) and scored six of the nine runs … replays showed Cano was not hit by the pitch in the fifth, it hit the bat and he was awarded first base anyway … Nix had a very strong game, with a single and a triple to go along with the bases loaded walk … Boone Logan struck out the only man he faced while Shawn Kelley worked a scoreless, strikeout-less ninth … the Yankees went 5-for-9 with runners in scoring position and remain undefeated (22-0) when leading after seven innings … the Rays had to get 15 outs from their bullpen, which could impact the rest of the series. Check out MLB.com for the box score and video highlights, FanGraphs for some more stats, and ESPN for the updated standings. Both the Red Sox and Orioles won, so they remain two and four back of the Yankees in the loss column. The Rays dropped to five back. These same two teams will play game two of this three-game set on Saturday afternoon, and the pitching matchup features a pair of very different southpaws: Vidal Nuno and Matt Moore. Post from: River Ave. Blues A New York Yankees blogYankees lose Curtis Granderson in win over Rays

This is the part that seemed familiar: Curtis Granderson clearly thought he wasn’t really hurt. Same thing happened when he broke his forearm in spring training. This time, Granderson was hit by a fifth inning fastball, went to first base and waved off any medical attention. He said his hand didn’t really start to throb until he got to third base. That’s when it became clear the Yankees might have a problem. “I thought I was going to be OK, very similar to the last time,” Granderson said. “Once I got to third, it started hurting a little bit and I was thinking to myself, I’m going to have to make sure I can go ahead and squeeze a bat before I can go back out there. And as the inning continued to prolong a little bit, it started to throb a little bit more and they said, ‘We’ll go ahead and get you out of here at this time, take a look at it.’ And that’s when we found the news out.” Granderson will see a specialist in New York on Monday, and the Yankees should have a more reliable timetable at that point. For the time being, Granderson has been diagnosed with a fractured fifth metacarpal near the knuckle of his left pinky. Granderson said doctors here told him he probably won’t need surgery. Joe Girardi said it will be at least four weeks before Granderson is back, but it’s worth remembering that Alex Rodriguez missed six weeks with a similar injury last season. “It’s heartbreaking,” David Phelps said. “He puts in all the hard work to get back and now he’s got to do it all over again.” The Yankees dodged another serious injury when Phelps left with nothing more than a bruised forearm after a sharp line drive that left Phelps shaken, but not seriously hurt. Instead, it’s Granderson who can’t catch a break. He broke his right forearm when he was hit by a pitch in his first spring training at-bat. He broke his hand only 10 days after returning to the lineup. “I bounced back from this (earlier) one, I’ll bounce back from this,” Granderson said. “The hand is still on. It didn’t fall off. You can take a look at all the positives from everything. It’s a better break than the previous one, that’s a good thing. It should be back sooner than the last time, so that’s a good thing. The team is playing well. Hopefully we come back and the team is right where we need it to be and continue to help this team move forward until the end.” • Up in Scranton, Donnie Collins reports that Brennan Boesch was packing his bags postgame. Seems likely that he’ll be the call-up tomorrow, but it also seems all but certain that Ichiro Suzuki will once again become an everyday player, no longer on the verge of falling into fourth outfielder status. • Discussing a possible call-up postgame, Girardi actually forgot that Ben Francisco is on the roster (hard to blame him). Girardi mentioned having only three outfielders and being willing to use Jayson Nix in the outfield if necessary. Reminded of Francisco, Girardi reversed course. “Oh yeah, Francisco,” he said. “Four (outfielders). So disregard what I said. I don’t know what we’ll do. We have so many roster issues, I’m not sure what we’re going to do.” • As you can imagine, the Yankees clubhouse was really stunned. This seemed to be such a positive day just a few hours ago, now Granderson is gone. Again. “No matter how many games we win, he’s the kind of guy that you need,” Robinson Cano said. “He’s one of those guys that we’re going to miss.” • Speaking of guys the Yankees would miss, Phelps was outstanding tonight. He had that bad stretch in the sixth inning, which makes the final pitching line look much worse than his actual performance. “I was getting ahead of guys, getting strike one, and I was really hitting my spots early on,” Phelps said. “The inning where they scored the three runs, I just got a li

Yankees outfielder Curtis Granderson suffered a fractured left fifth metacarpal (knuckle on pinky finger) and was forced to leave Friday's game against the Rays after being hit on the left hand with a pitch during his at-bat in the fifth inning.

Triple-A Scranton (9-4 loss to Durham) 2B Corban Joseph: 3-5, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 K, 1 E (fielding) — had been in a 5-for-35 (.143) slump RF Brennan Boesch: 0-4, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 1 K — he was called into the manager’s office after the game, so he’ll almost certainly be coming up to replace the injured Curtis Granderson LF Zoilo Almonte: 1-4, 1 3B, 2 RBI, 1 BB, 1 K 3B Ronnie Mustelier: 1-5 DH Thomas Neal: 2-4, 1 2B, 1 K — 11 hits in his last 25 at-bats (.440) CF Melky Mesa: 2-4, 1 R, 1 K — 70 strikeouts (!) and four walks in 45 games RHP Chase Whitley: 1.2 IP, zeroes, 3 K, 2/0 GB/FB — 15 of 22 pitches were strikes (68%) … first scoreless outing of the year RHP Mark Montgomery: 1.2 IP, 1 H, 2 R, 0 ER, 4 BB, 3 K, 2/0 GB/FB — 25 of 48 pitches were strikes (52%), and he was sitting mostly 89-90 mph with the fastball … 15 strikeouts and 15 walks in his last 15.1 innings RHP Sam Demel: 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K, 1/0 GB/FB — 12 pitches, eight strikes … he’s been their only reliable reliever this year Double-A Trenton (4-2 loss to Bowie) LF Ramon Flores: 2-3, 1 R, 1 BB, 1 K — had been in a 6-for-36 (.167) slump CF Slade Heathcott: 0-4, 2 K DH Tyler Austin: 1-3, 1 R, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 1 K — first homer in 18 games RHP Zach Nuding: 5 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 1 K, 1 WP, 1 HB, 7/3 GB/FB — 65 of 105 pitches were strikes (62%) RHP Branden Pinder: 1 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 1 K, 1/1 GB/FB — 11 of 15 pitches were strikes High-A Tampa (4-3 win over Dunedin, walk-off style) CF Mason Williams: 2-4 — threw a runner out at first 2B Angelo Gumbs & DH Rob Refsnyder: both 0-4 — Refsnyder struck out thrice LF Ben Gamel: 1-4 1B Casey Stevenson: 1-4, 1 R, 1 HR, 3 RBI — walk-off three-run homer, so that’s cool RHP Corey Black: 6 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, 12/3 GB/FB — 56/20 K/BB in 48.1 innings LHP Cesar Cabral: 2 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 2 K, 0/3 GB/FB — first two strikeouts of his rehab assignment (third game) RHP Taylor Garrison: 1 IP, zeroes, 1/1 GB/FB – all batted balls tonight, but he’s got a 23/3 K/BB in 20.1 innings this year Low-A Charleston (12-2 loss to Greenville) CF Jake Cave: 1-5, 2 K 1B Greg Bird: 0-4, 1 BB, 4 K, 1 E (pickoff) — no contact kinda day C Peter O’Brien: 0-3, 1 BB, 3 K, 1 PB – another no contact kinda day … that’s also his 15th (!) passed ball 3B Dante Bichette: 3-4, 1 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI — fourth homer of the year, one more than all of last season LHP Dan Camarena: 4 IP, 9 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 1 BB, 1 K, 1 WP, 3/4 GB/FB — 54 of 79 pitches were strikes (68%) … just an ugly, ugly season so far Post from: River Ave. Blues A New York Yankees blogAustin & Bichette homer in losses

The Yanks beat the crap out of the Rays tonight but their bad luck continued when Curtis Granderson was hit in the hand by a pitch. The news ain’t good, but at this point, it’s hardly surprising: Granderson fractured the knuckle on his left pinky. So he’s gone for another good while. Just a huge bummer for a good dude, and for the Yanks as well. This is getting stupid, these injuries. And wouldn’t you know that David Phelps left the game after getting hit by a line drive in the right arm (fortunately, x-rays were negative). Jeez. [Photo Credit: AP, via Lo-Hud]

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – The New York Yankees scratched and clawed their way to a 9-4 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays on Friday, with the only long ball surprisingly belonging to Brett Gardner. View full post on Yahoo! Sports – MLB – New York Yankees News

David Phelps pitched 4.2 innings of a perfect game and the Yankees' offense scored nine runs. It was looking to be a promising game, an easy win, and a nice breakout day for the offense. Then Curtis Granderson was hit by a pitch and broke his hand. Then Phelps was hit on his pitching arm by a comebacker and had to leave the game. We won the game, but lost a lot doing it. Phelps was great, pitching 7.2 innings giving up four runs on six hits with three strikeouts. Either he was remarkably efficient, or the Rays were ridiculously agressive because he got 11 fly outs over the course of the game and was able to keep his pitch count down. Curtis Granderson fractures left hand after being hit by pitch The Yankees lose Granderson again for at least four weeks The Yankee offense broke out and hit starting pitcher Roberto Hernandez early and often. In the top of the second Travis Hafner doubled and David Adams reach on an infield single that replay showed he might have been out on. Lyle Overbay then doubled off the right field wall to make it 2–0 and Jayson Nix singled to score Overbay and make it 3–0. In the fourth inning Chris Stewart singled in his first game back from a long layaway, then Brett Gardner homered to right field to make it 5–0 and knock Hernandez out of the game. The fifth inning is when the game started to go downhill, even though the Yankees kept on hitting. Granderson was hit on the hand, because of course he was, but seemed to be ok. Adams and Overbay singled to load the bases and Nix walked in a run. Stewart singled and Robinson Cano was hit by a pitch (HE WAS FINE) and it was 8–0. Ichiro Suzuki came in for Ichiro after that and the worrying began. The Yankees Phelps gave up the perfect game in the bottom half of the inning, then in the sixth Jose Lobaton and Yunel Excobar singled, Matt Joyce doubled, Ben Zobrist grounded out and Luke Scott hit a sac fly and it was now 8-3. Phelps had not completely come undone, but he was unable to pitch as effectively as he had been before. Jayson Nix tried to cheer us all up with a triple and then scored on a wild pitch, but it probably didn't work too well. The Rays scored another run on a sac fly and then David Phelps was hit by a pitch and had to leave the game and everyone freaked out. By that point I was sufficiently done with this game and stopped caring. Boone Logan struck out the remaning batter of the inning and then Shawn Kelley gave up only a hit, but managed to not die and end the game. The Yankees' 6-9 hitters all had two hits, but here's the box score if you want to look at other stuff. More From Pinstriped Bible Ivan Nova and Chris Stewart return; Yankees lineup against Rays Yankees injury updates and depth chart battles Masahiro Tanaka to post in 2014: Will the Yankees be interested?

The Yankees won the game which is a very good thing. This means that they have ended a possible extended losing streak and this is now the latest they've gone in a season without suffering through a three-game losing streak since 1955. They won a game in Tampa which is no small feat. The Yankees have terrible numbers there of late. But, of course, there was also bad news tonight. It seems like we can't go a day without hearing some. The Yankees lost Curtis Granderson to injury, again. He was hit by a pitch, again. He was hit in his left hand with the same result as the J.A. Happ pitch in Spring Training, a fracture. This time it's his pinky. [Insert a very long and drawn out expletive here] I swear, this season is astounding in regards to injuries. This team should not be 29-18 but they are. Of course, Granderson wasn't the only injury in the game. They seem to come in pairs this season as well. David Phelps, who picked up the win with seven innings of work was hit with a line drive in his right forearm. I have a joke with my friends. I always talk about being fly paper for freaks. Apparently the Yankees are fly paper for errant hits and pitches or better yet, they are magnets for baseballs. At this point, they might as cover wrap Robinson Cano in bubble wrap. Okay, enough of the melancholy nonsense. The Yankees won and that's a good thing. Like I said, Phelps passed the seven inning mark (7 and 2/3 before getting hit), gave up four runs on six hits with three strikeouts and he didn't walk a batter. Offensively, the Yankees got contributions from the usual suspects like Travis Hafner and Lyle Overbay who both had doubles. Overbay finished with two RBI, Brett Gardner hit a two-hit home run, his fourth of the season. The Yankees finished with 11 hits. Six of those hits and five of their runs came off of Rays' starter Roberto Hernandez, the artist formerly known as Fausto Carmona. They scored three off Cesar Ramos who was the pitcher who hit Granderson with the pitch. Granderson, according to manager Joe Girardi, will miss a minimum of four weeks with his fractured pinky. Phelps was sent for precautionary x-rays and Girardi is hoping it's just a bruised forearm. We all are. Just as I was finishing this up the news came out that it's just a forearm contusion for Phelps. Halleljujah!

The Yankees seemed to have little difficulty coming up with enough runs and hits to defeat the Rays on Friday night, but they bumped into at least one more serious problem in the injury department.

David Phelps has a right forearm contusion. X-rays were negative. The post X-rays negative for Phelps appeared first on The LoHud Yankees Blog.